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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27388324">|Rewritten|</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pastel_Angel/pseuds/Pastel_Angel'>Pastel_Angel</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stranger Things (TV 2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Actual plot, Fluff, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Original Character(s), You're Welcome, i guess</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:29:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,681</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27388324</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pastel_Angel/pseuds/Pastel_Angel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Alexei had died, alone. That should have been it.</p><p>But it wasn't.</p><p>Because he woke up outside of his body, in a dark and twisted place familiar to his world. </p><p>He wasn't alive, but he wasn't quite gone.</p><p>Not yet.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alexei/Murray Bauman, Joyce Byers/Jim "Chief" Hopper</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>|Rewritten|</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"[Look! It's not rigged!]"</p><p>     The stuffed animal had felt so soft, so plush. Though the air was cold, it made him warm on the inside. He hadn't felt so alive his whole life. It was so short, so sudden, it had been hard to grasp. How had these people simply dropped into his life, and swept him away to something so much better? Comprehension aside, it was amazing.</p><p>     He had loved every minute he spent with these three strange Americans. He wanted to stop everything and soak in every bit of this adventure.</p><p>     ..But he was living in a bittersweet fantasy that couldn't hold forever.</p><p>     All he had really deducted in that moment was a loud, piercing noise, breaking through the air. A sharp ringing in his ears.</p><p>     His eyes met with Grigori, just for a second. The world seemed to freeze. There was no time to react. No time to run.</p><p>     There would never be enough time.</p><p>     The shock masked the pain. His surroundings blended together, like a wax painting over a fire.</p><p>"[Traitor.]"</p><p>     The words didn't make sense. What did he say? Who had said that?</p><p>      His breath caught in his throat, dizziness washing over him like a tidal wave. He stumbled back, his footing offset. The stuffed toy fell from his hands to the ground.</p><p>What's... happening...?</p><p>"...Alexei..."</p><p>     Someone was calling out to him. He tried to focus, but his world was crumbling.</p><p>"Alexei!" </p><p>     As he began to lose stability, an arm wrapped around him, holding him up. A hand pressed against his wound, keeping him from losing more blood than he already had.</p><p>Murray... Oh...</p><p>"Oh god- Let's go." </p><p>     Murray rushed him into a cutoff between two carnival booths, isolated from the crowds.</p><p>     A choked whimper of pain escaped his lips as he leaned against the booth and sunk to the ground.</p><p>"A-ah!"</p><p>     Murray balled up his jacket and placed it over the wound. Alexei didn't have the energy to move or speak, breathing was a hard enough task as it was.</p><p>     He heard Murray tell him something else, but the words were too jumbled to make sense. He just nodded weakly, wordlessly pleading for him not to go. But Murray raced off, presumably to get help, leaving him to fight on his own.</p><p>But... I was... I was... This can't be it... Not yet...</p><p>     But there was no strength left. His life was slipping, draining away. </p><p>I have to... Stay... I want to... Please...</p><p>     His thoughts were fragmenting. There wasn't a trace of bodily function left. It was like sleep paralysis. </p><p>     The light began to fade. He was sinking, as if he were in quicksand. </p><p>     Then all he had left was his heartbeat.</p><p>     His head tilted to the side, giving him one last image of the stuffed toy he had dropped in the clearing.</p><p>     And after a minute, there was nothing.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>...</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>     People tend to say when you die, you go to the light.</p><p>     What's strange is... that's not where I seem to be going.</p><p>     In fact, quite the opposite.</p><p>     The sensation I'm experiencing is... indescribable. </p><p>     Something is dragging me through the ground. Out of my body. Like my conscience and my physical embodiment are no longer one and the same. I can only describe it as reminiscent of breaking through the surface of water. The process is incomprehensible. </p><p>     Suddenly I feel a jolt, and it's as if something clicks into place. Everything comes to an instant halt, and silence slices through the air. I'm jerked onto solid ground with an echoing thud, and I'm nearly sure something snaps. I wince, my limbs and joints aching.</p><p>What the...?</p><p>     Coughing and sitting up, my body weak and unsteady, I realize a little bit of energy has returned to me. Though, the shock still renders me speechless and weary.</p><p>     I notice I have bloodstains on my hands and where I was shot. I lift up my shirt to check the wound, which feels strangely painless. </p><p>     It's completely healed. </p><p>     It's not possible, but it's real. How long have I been unconscious? I don't feel like any time has passed. One minute I was dying, the next minute I'm alive as can be. It doesn't make sense.</p><p>     I glance around. I'm still between the two booths, but something is definitely off. For a moment, I have to rub my eyes. The world around me is almost the same. Almost. The skies are a reddish grey, and there's strange dark overgrowth taking root from the ground. Everything seems to have been reduced to black and white. Tiny puffs of what seems to be ash float hang in the air, adding an extra sense of stillness. </p><p>     The most threatening observation is the lack of noise. There are no natural sounds. No people cheering and chattering, no wind, nothing. Only my own sounds resonate through the area. </p><p>"[Hello?]" I try yelling. I'm not that loud, my voice is shaky. But it still echoes.</p><p>     I hear a loud creaking noise from the carnival area, then something crashes. I swallow. </p><p>This is not good. I need to find Murray and the other two.</p><p>     As I'm about to get up, I hear an even louder crash from my right. </p><p>     And I see something that nearly makes me pass out. </p><p>     A giant, looming monster with a head like a flower bud and ridiculously long arms is walking through the clearing. It slowly, grudgingly moves forward. It's the most terrifying thing my mind could conjure up. It triggers my flight-or-flight response automatically, like flipping a switch. All my nightmares composed into one being... this would be what it looks like. But it can't be a hallucination, right? Everything I'm seeing and feeling right now is so clear. My mind is a bit hazy, but everything that's happening now is without a doubt real.</p><p>     The monster hasn't seen me. Yet. </p><p>     As I press my back against the wall and quietly make my way into the open carnival area, something crunches under me. A candy wrapper, or maybe a dry leaf. I quickly glance at the creature.</p><p>     Which is staring back at me.</p><p>     It makes a few clicking noises, then after a few seconds pass, it's flower bulb head opens into full bloom, and it's not pretty. It's gaping mouth is lined with hundreds of sharp teeth, and I'm almost positive I can see blood dripping from it.</p><p>     It screeches angrily and starts stalking towards me. My heart is pounding unbelievably fast. I try scrambling back, survival instincts kicking in.</p><p>     It's an estimated two feet away from me. I know this thing could outrun me. But maybe I could throw it off. </p><p>     I hurry to my feet and take off running. It, naturally, chases after me. While I'm dashing, it finally dawns on me that there are no other people here. Just me. If this is the afterlife... I have no idea what I did to deserve this. Well, I know what I've done in the past, but it wasn't a choice of mine.</p><p>     I dart off behind the dart game stand, and try to plan out how to get out of here. I just need to get out of the carnival. </p><p>     I make a move and keep running in a zigzag through the booths, occasionally backtracking to throw the monster for a loop. It seems to be working, but it's tiring me out. I catch a glimpse of the parking lot, and know that's where I need to go.</p><p>     I make a break for it.</p><p>     As I run, I spot my stuffed animal that I'd won. I hadn't seen any stuffed animals on the racks in the booths since I came to this warped version of the world.</p><p>     I nab it on my way.</p><p>     I can hear the beast's screams from the opposite side of the carnival. Fortunately, that buys me a good seven minutes approximately.</p><p>     I'm nearly to safety when I trip over my own feet and come tumbling to the ground.</p><p>"[Shit-]" I need to get up!</p><p>     Another ear-piercing scream splits through the air. </p><p>     It's right behind me. </p><p>     As I begin to look up, expecting to be torn to shreds, I find a splatter of black ooze dripping out of the monster's head, impaled by a sharp wooden stick. </p><p>"Son of a bitch! Took long enough to get this one. Why do they love this place so much?"</p><p>     As the monster topples to the ground, seemingly dead, I'm left staring up at a teenage girl. She has a ruffly orange-ish shirt and baggy jeans that go with her short auburn hair. There are heavy shadows under her eyes, and she looks ill.</p><p>"Woah! Hey, are you okay?! Oh my god!"</p><p>     The girl sticks out her hand to help me up. I nervously take it and get to my feet. I can't understand what she's saying, but she doesn't seem hostile.</p><p>"Um, how did you get here? Are you going to save me? Oh please do, I just want to go home!"</p><p>     I shake my head in confusion.</p><p>"[I don't know what you're saying.]"</p><p>     She gapes at me.</p><p>"Wait, you're Russian? Jeez, I only speak a little... Good thing I payed attention in class." The girl sighs, adjusts her glasses, then introduces herself in my language.</p><p>"[My name is Barbara. Who are you?]"</p><p>"[I'm Alexei. I don't know how I got here. I thought I died, then I woke up in this place.]" I say, looking around anxiously. It would be safer not to tell her my occupation. </p><p>"[Do you know how to get out of here?]" Barbara asks hopefully.</p><p>"[No. How long have you been trapped?]" I reply.</p><p>"[I don't know. A long time.]"</p><p>     This was getting worse by the minute. At least he wasn't alone.</p><p>"[We need to go. I've been trying to find monster-free places, but there's just so few ways to go.]" She said, voice devoid of hope.</p><p>     I remembered Murray's place. The entire area was so locked down, a product of Murray's need for privacy. </p><p>"[I think I know where we can go.]"</p><p> </p><p>bruh im too lazy to finish this</p><p>i'll continue this tho</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I hate my life, I hate my life *jazz music*</p></blockquote></div></div>
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